7 Roads to Meditation
Bill Bodri
www.meditationexpert.com
718-539-2811
Go to www.MeditationExpert.com for free
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Why Meditate?
• Reasons
– Health and Longevity
– Spiritual Progress
– Calm Your Mind - Defuse Stress - Learn to Relax
– Cultivate Virtue and Purity
– Facilitates Changing Your Behavior
• How
– Cross your legs in a quiet place (tune the body)
– Cover your knees with towel and avoid drafts
– Relaxed but straight, head up
• When
– The best time is whenever you can (like exercise, “there is no one best
exercise… the one you bother to do is how you start, so go from there”)
– 20, 40, 60 minutes once or twice a day
– Quiet time (morning/night), before eating or more than 1½ hours later
The Purpose of Meditation Every Religion says the Same
• Buddhism: realize emptiness, attain enlightenment
• Judaism: ayin (nothingness) - the annihilation of thought
• Christianity: become selfless, give up the ego (give up your
personal thoughts, i.e. emptiness, to become one with the Father)
• Islam: to see God’s face (hey, that’s your “original nature”)
• Confucianism: to rest in the highest virtue
• Zen: to realize one’s original nature
• Yoga: sense withdrawal and then pacification of thought, samadhi
• Taoism: to “see the Tao,” “realize the Tao,” “attain the Tao”
• Final goal: emptiness, enlightenment, self-realization, Buddhahood
The Basic Method
Sit, cross your legs, relax your body, forget
your body, watch your thoughts in a detached
mode, they die down => mental quiet => find
the watcher/ultimate source of the quiet
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
“Adding methods” - Tibetan ceremonies
“Subtraction methods” - letting go, neti neti
One-pointed Concentration - visualizations
Mantra - Tire/busy the mind
Breathing - breathing and thoughts are linked
Pacification methods - relaxing, tantra
Etc. (they all rely on the principles of cessation and
contemplation, or samadhi and prajna wisdom, along with
mindfulness of “let it go!”)
Shakyamuni Buddha said:
Do not believe something solely on the strength of traditions, even
if those customs or traditions have been held in honor and in
many places for many generations. Don't believe anything simply
because many people say it is so either. Furthermore, do not
believe something just because it was maintained by ancient
sagas. Do not believe that which you have imagined yourself
either, thinking a god has inspired you. Believe nothing which
depends only on the authority of your teachers or of priests.
Rather, test everything and after investigation, believe that which
you yourself have tested and found reasonable and true, and
which is good for you and others. Prove things through your
personal experience.
Topics
The 5 Stages of the Spiritual Path
Meditation 1 – Seeing the light
Tao School Basics: jing-chi-shen transformations
Meditation 2 – Skeleton meditation
The Time Sequences of the Spiritual Path and Physical Transformations
Cultivation Method 3 – 9-bottled wind
Esoteric school and Wu Liu methods: all based on breathing
Meditation 4 -- Mantra
Meditation 5 – Meditations for Cancer and High Blood Pressure
Mozart effect, Healing, Chi and Consciousness are linked ...
Meditation 6 – Cessation-contemplation practice in Confucianism, Vipassana,
Now!, Sandhinirmocana jing
Various stages of samadhi
Meditation 7 -- Dream Yoga
Meditation 8 – Sexual cultivation
Big cheats: positive thinking, visualization, naturalistic being in the moment
The 5 Stages of the Spiritual Path
(1) The Stage of Wisdom and Merit Accumulation (Study and Virtue)
(2) The Stage of Preparatory Practice, Progressive Practice, Evolutionary Yoga,
Intensified Preparatory Practices, Earnest Endeavor, Prayoga, ...
Warming
Peak
Forbearance
Highest Worldly Dharma
Yoga’s 4 stages: Introduction - transition - attainment - perfection
(3) The Stage of Seeing the Tao, Direct Vision, “Clear Light,” “10,000 miles of
Empty Sky,” Selflessness, Realizing Your Original Nature, Illuminate Your
Bright Virtue, See God’s face, “See the Tao” ...
(4) The Stage of True Cultivation Practice (realize the emptiness of the self,
now realize the emptiness of phenomena, dissolve away or “purify” habitual
energy streams)
(5) The Stage of Complete Enlightenment, No More Learning, Buddhahood
Meditation - Seeing the Light
• Tibetan monks usually must wait 20 years before being introduced
to this practice
• Mahakasyapa on “Chicken Foot” Mountain practices it
• Seeing the Light - We’re not talking about a physical light you see
with your eyes. Don’t try to visualize anything, you just realize the
light that’s everywhere which is the light of awareness (the mind)
• Mother light versus child light -- awareness “clear light”
• Close your eyes and let your mind and body merge with whatever
light there is (“I am the light, the light is me,” “God is light”).
Merge and then forget your body and self.
• Forget the knower, knowing, and object - Merge with the light
you realize -- light has no boundaries (is bodyless) and extends
everywhere
Vairocana Tathagata
Ahh Bee Lah Hung! Cht!
Practice from visualizing you are a bright sun, next become invisible
sunlight that’s everywhere, and then clear bodyless awareness
Tao School Basics
Jing – generative force, semen, seminal energy, ching, ojas,
hormones, bindus, bodhicitta, water element, body
Chi – life force, qi, prana, ether, biocosmic energy, wind
element, mind, soul
Shen – spirit, tejas, no-thought, light (emptiness)
----------------------------------------------------
The Process Behind All True Spiritual Cultivation
Transform your jing into chi
Transform your chi into shen
Transform your shen into emptiness
Return emptiness to the Tao
Two Sets of Basic Principles
• When your jing becomes full
you won’t think of sex
• When your chi becomes full
you won’t think of eating
• When your shen is full you
won’t feel like sleeping
• If you don’t accumulate your
jing, you will never experience
the state of physical bliss
• If you don’t accumulate your
chi, you will never experience
the stage of internal light
• If you don’t accumulate your
shen, you will never experience
the state of no-thought
White Skeleton Meditation
•
•
•
•
Start with your left big toe
Give away your flesh joyfully to the ghosts and spirits
Visualize that you are just a shiny, dazzling white (silver) skeleton
Visualize that your bones becoming dust and then emptiness -- then
forget your body & abandon all ideas of a having body or form
(mentally let go of everything)
• Sexual desire grows strong with this practice … you’ll become
extremely flexible ... You’ll become able to see other people’s bones
and inside their body … superpowers will arise ... You’ll be able to
initially enter samadhi
• Sickness focus - Manjushri 7th-8th lower vertebrae method
• Chiropractors and bodyworkers should use this
The Time Sequences of the
Spiritual Path
“Building” or “Laying
the Foundation”
Initial stage of Jing 
Chi
10 Months
“Pregnancy” (embryo)
Finalize Jing  Chi
Prelim. Chi  Shen
3 Years
“Suckling” or “Nursing Final. Chi  Shen
the Baby”
Init. Shen  Emptiness
100 Days
 3 Months
 Thailand
 Yoga practice
 Tibetan Retreats
 Yin/Yang shen
9 Years
“Facing the Wall”
Shen  Emptiness
Init. Emptiness  Tao
Breaking Emptiness
and Returning to the
Tao
Achieve a State of
Neither Existence or
Non-Existence
 Zen Master Bodhidharma
Indeterminate
Advanced Stages of Physical
Transformations - Time Requirements
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
After 1 year - chi
After 2 years - blood
After 3 years - mai (energy meridians, vessels)
After 4 years - flesh
After 5 years - bone marrow (white)
After 6 years - sinews and tendons
After 7 years - bones
After 8 years - hair (leave behind)
After 9 years - entire body form/shape
“9-Bottled Wind” Practice
3 sets of 3 repetitions (left, right, center)
Draw in as much air as possible,
as slowly as possible,
into your lungs as deep as possible,
hold for as long as possible using as
few muscles as possible
exhale as quickly as possible.
Cultivating the 5 Elements
Earth
Water
Wind/Air/Wood
Fire
Space/Metal
Bones, Teeth, Nails, Muscles
Blood, Hormones, Lymph
Breath
Bodily Warmth, Kundalini
Interstitial Places, Joints
The Most Common Sequence of the Path
Wind (Water) -> Fire -> Earth -> Space
Air + Oil (hormones/mai)
Easiest, Chi/Consciousness
Kundalini
Skeleton
Entire Body
The 5 Elements
FIRE: Kundalini (bodily warmth)
WIND: Breath, chi
(prana, life energy)
WATER: Blood,
water, hormones,
jing, lymph, ...
EARTH: Bones,
teeth, nails,
sinews, muscles
SPACE: Interstitial
spaces, joint gaps,
hollow spaces
The 3 Doshas: VATA=Air + Space, PITTA=Fire + Water, KAPHA=Water + Earth
Cultivating the 5 Elements
Earth
Water
Wind/Air/Wood
Fire
Space/Metal
Imagine you are atoms
Link with water, become water
Breathing practices - chi
Imagine you are fire
Become like space (bodyless)
The Most Common Sequence of the Path
Wind (Water) -> Fire -> Earth -> Space
Air + Oil (hormones/mai)
Easiest, Chi/Consciousness
Kundalini
Skeleton
Entire Body
Detoxifying Your Body for the Spiritual
Path
• Nattokinase - open up arteries and dissolve blood clots
• GSH250 (Douglas labs) or Recancostat (Tyler Labs) detoxify toxic chemicals (liver) having glutathione, NAC,
alpha lipoic acid
• Natures Pure Body (Pure Body Institute) - whole body
detoxification
• Liver Flush and Kidney Flush (Richard Schulze
American Botanical Pharmacy)
• Glutamine powder
• Chiropractic adjustments
• Supernutrition Brand Multivitamin
• Breathing practices - 9 Bottled wind
• Eliminate food allergies and food sensitivities - Immuno Labs
115 foods test (see ebook coupon)
• Immune26 immune booster - If you are older than 50 years old
then try just one can, 800-557-8477 (Bodri #512372)
• HOLOSYNC meditation tapes (see products section of
www.meditationexpert.com)
Order Detox Your Body for the Spiritual Path ebook at
www.meditationexpert.com
Various Mantra You Can Use
for Cultivation
Amitofo:
Namo Amitofo
Zhunti:
Namo Sadoh Nah
Samyak Sampoh Doh
Jeezuh Nah, Dazah Toh
Ohm, Zurleee, Julee, Zhunti, Soha
Lotus, Mahagala, ...
Avalokitesvara:
Ohm Man Bei Me Hon!
Vairocana:
Ohm Ah Bee Lah Hung Chit
Reciting the rosary
is exactly the same
as mantra (japa)
repetition practice
Proven Effects of Meditation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lowers blood pressure
Increases serum DHEA (master hormone)
Reduces serum cortisol (stress)
Reduces pulse rate
Increases serum total protein
Quiets the mind - reduces stress
Chinese Medicine: “the 100 diseases start
with wind (chi)”
Ainslie Meares and Cancer
• Treated 73 patients with advanced cancer who attended at
least 20 sessions of intensive meditation
• Found that meditation reduces anxiety, depression and pain
• Tumor growth inhibited in 10% of cases
• Tumor regression in 10% of cases - 3 attributes
– their meditation was profound and prolonged
– little or no conscious activity during meditation
– they carried the meditation into their daily lives
•
•
•
•
Survival longer than expected
Quality of life improved in 50% of cases
Meditation facilitated death with dignity in 90% of cases
Meares encouraged “effortless stilling of the mind” and
discouraged mantra, active visualization, breathing
methods
Meditations for Healing
CANCER
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visualize giving away your dirty flesh/meat to all
beings at and then you become a skeleton which
then transforms into emptiness
Visualize your body burns away or is burned by
light and you become light only (high wisdom
people go directly to emptiness/light)
Vairocana + Sun + light method … just get to
emptiness or light (not in the shape of the body)
Exhale visualizing the dirty things/illness leaving
your body
Meares in Australia (10%) - emptiness method best
The Power of Emptiness can destroy all the bad
things and set up the new things; Emptiness method
is Great vehicle and visualization/other methods
small vehicle
Diet, Supplements, Detox
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
•
•
•
•
Use the skeleton method, visualize you become a
skeleton, then you imagine taking your skull, turning it
upside down and putting it on your waist
Visualize skeleton method but focus on your big toes
Visualize a small fire flame or small sun in the center
of the bottom of your feet
In this case, visualize the emptiness going down (most
people visualize emptiness proceeding upwards)
•
Breathing begins after you are born, so breathing
methods concentrate on post natal phenomena;
skeleton method -> no breathing anymore; One not
better than another, just use all the methods combined;
ordinary people differ from advanced practitioners
•
Supplements, destress, meditation, diet
Meditations for Healing
PAIN
•
•
Arthritis - water and wind elements; fasting, medicines and breathing (takes time)
Chant a mantra or be mindful of Buddha to such a degree of one-pointedness that you forget about the
existence of your body (higher method), but you also need to do fasting
HEADACHE
•
•
You need to know the source of the problem because there are many causes
General method - visualize your head is not there... non-existent (ex. Generals in war forget the pain);
for this to work you need great mind power (highest method the thought is not there)
GRIEF and WORRY
•
•
Empty your thoughts to get mental relief by entering a state of no-thought, or you try to breathe out or
do exercise or sing to put your attention elsewhere
Methods to shift attention are not the ultimate solution (doctors will always have business)
STRESS
•
Zen - just know it is there, that’s the highest method
The “Mozart Effect”
• 1996 Study College Entrance Exam - if students sing or play an
instrument they score 51 points higher on Verbal and 39 points higher
in Math
• Univ. of CA study - listen to Mozart for 10 minutes before have higher
SAT score
• Shell, IBM, Dupont, universities use music to cut learning time in half
• Univ. of WA study - listening to light classical music for 90 minutes,
students catch 21% more copywriting errors
• Baltimore hospital study - heart patients get as much benefit from 30
minutes of classical music and 10 mg of Valium
• CA State University study - migraine sufferers were trained to use
imagery, music and relaxation techniques to reduce the frequency,
intensity and duration of their headaches
Chi and Consciousness
are Linked
•
Chi and consciousness are linked
– Zen Master Nan Huai-Chin
•
Consciousnesses are said to “ride” on winds [various types of chi, or prana] in the
same manner that a horseman rides his mount; by travelling on the winds,
consciousnesses are able to leave their bases in the sense-powers (located in the eye,
ear, and so forth) to contact their objects. Because minds are inoperative without
winds to provide a medium for their movement, and because winds lack specific
direction without minds, minds are likened to cripples with sights and winds to blind
men with legs; the lame climb on the backs of the blind and together they can move
about. Because the winds are the medium for the operation of minds, fluctuation in the
winds necessarily affects consciousness, and thus it is crucial for tantric yogis who
wish to yoke consciousness to gain control over the movement of winds. Tantric
yogics engage in a variety of practices to bring about a concentration of the winds, for
concentration of the winds leads to concentration of consciousness.
– Highest Yoga Tantra, Daniel Cozort
Chi and Consciousness
are Linked
•
•
Mind and prana are mixed like milk and water. Both of them are equal in their activities.
Where there is pranic movement or activity there is mind (consciousness). Where there is
consciousness there is prana.
When prana moves, chitta (the mental force) moves. When prana is without movement,
chitta is without movement. By this (steadiness of prana) the yogis attains steadiness and
should thus restrain the vayu (air).
– Hatha Yoga Pradipika: Light on Hatha Yoga, Swami Muktibodhananda Saraswati
•
The mind—the king—surrounded by a retinue of mindfulness, meditative stabilization, and
so forth is considered as being mounted on the horse of vitality (prana). When the horse of
vitality [wind] is held, the mind—the king—as well as the retinue will definitely be held.
For another [text] says, ‘Vitality [wind] is to be stopped. When it is stopped, one’s mind as
well as mindfulness, intellect, mental engagement, and so forth will definitely be held.’
– The Yoga of Tibet, Tsong-Ka-Pa, trans. Jeffrey Hopkins
•
He who has power over his mind can also control prana. [For] the two causes that activate
the mind are prana [respiration] and the sources of karma [vasanas, latent tendencies.]
– The Yoga of Light, Hans-Ulich Rieker
Cessation-Contemplation Practice
• Shamatha-vipashyana, Chih-guan, Confucian cultivation, Vipassana, Tiendai,
Greater and Lesser Contemplation, Sandhinirmocana Sutra, Christian
contemplation, Benjamin Franklin, Liao Fan, self-awareness, Kabbalah, Gurdjieff
self-remembering
• Step 1: Sit, relax your body and respiration, tune your physical nature,
physiological adjustments. Start to watch your thoughts as if you were a 3rd
person observer.
• Step 2: You reach a stage where you can start to clearly see each thought that
appears in the mind, and can distinguish the beginning and ending of thoughts.
You start to notice a gap of clear immediate presence of mind.
Confucius
Socrates
Chih-i
Benjamin
Franklin
• Step 3: You realize that thoughts don’t stay -- “observing birth and death” -- and
that the never ending stream of arising is the “realm of birth and death.” If you
remain attached to this realm you can never achieve liberation. Observe this
stream and you will gradually learn how to detach from it. In contemplating the
mean between stillness and activity, you will arrive at the source. Through inner
watching … your stream of consciousness becomes interrupted. Your clarity
increases and peace and calm increase. This is CONTEMPLATION.
• Step 4: You’ll start to notice a momentary gap of silence between thoughts - the
practice of silent watching will interrupt the stream of mentation like a fragrant
elephant. This mental silence will open up into a clear, lucid, open awareness.
This is CESSATION.
• Step 5: Carry over this state of watching into all your activities. Thoughts will die
down, radiant awareness will expand, and you’ll naturally enter into samadhi.
KEEP SHINING AWARENESS ON CESSATION TO ARRIVE AT DHYANASAMADHI.
• NOW! If your vital energy doesn’t move, Zen practice is “dead tree Zen” - you
must know the joyful side of existence
The Three Realms and Samadhi
Formless Realm
Formless Realm Heavenly Beings
Form Realm
Form Realm
Heavenly Beings
Desire Realm
Devas (Heavens)
Asuras
Humans
Animals
Hungry Ghosts – Pretas
Hell beings
Samadhi of neither thought nor
no-thought
Samadhi of nothingness
Samadhi of infinite consciousness
Samadhi of infinite space
4th Dhyana - asmita
3rd Dhyana - ananda
2nd Dhyana - vicara
1st Dhyana - vitarka
Mundane Realms of
Consciousness
Dream Yoga
• People in ancient times used the dream state to cure themselves
• There are 5 Types of dreams in cultivation: (1) sickness, (2) see the future, (3) past
life, (4) deep thinking related, (5) interaction with spiritual beings
• “Du-yin” shadow side of clear consciousness can reach outside the bounds of space
and time -- small psychic abilities -- don’t rely on it for BIG things
• Buddha said people who are enlightened “don’t dream” and Chuang Tzu mentioned
two types of such people: the dullard and sage
• Various cultivation methods focus on dream existence or dream emptiness
• Lucid dreaming - bring your chi to your throat (or into your head - flying in
dreams is when your chi is rising - Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine)
• Bring clear awareness into your dream -- recognize that things do not exist in the
way they appear to be => detachment => emptiness
• Recognize the dreamlike nature of reality -- all phenomena are a dream or illusion - dream state and awakeness are indistinguishable => relax the mind
• The Diamond Sutra is talking about how the world is like a dream
Sexual Cultivation
• Not a public teaching -- Shakayamuni never taught it -- Nagarjuna
and Tsong Khapa never taught it -- Esoteric school outlawed in
China
• Tao school “left door” practices and Tibetan Tantra are the only 2
schools; Tibet had 3 roads, Tao school “making the sword”
• The objective is to reach the 1st dhyana (samadhi) -- a stage of
Co-emergent emptiness and bliss
• Qualifications: You need merit (king/samadhi or queen/high born)
and cultivation attainment (breathing methods and skeleton
method and cessation-contemplation and some dhyana) ... Story of
the 6th Dalai Lama
• You don’t try to swap or steal energy from your partner or
circulate it -- all those books and teachers are wrong -- if you
want sex then have sex but don’t cheat yourself/others and try to
spiritualize lust - avoid drafts and cold drinks
• Principles: Brahmacharya, celibacy, chastity … no ejaculation …
joyful play without desire (emptiness) … not sexual yoga (good
for healing) or trying to spiritualize lust … reach a state where the
mind is empty, the body is relaxed so you can forget the body,
you need chi communication
• Men’s barrier is sexual desire, women’s barrier is emotions
• Sky Dancer - Yeshe Tsogyel, women “kill the dragon”; see How
to Measure and Deepen Your Spiritual Realization at
www.meditationexpert.com
• Authors: Jolan Chang, Doug Wile
Taoism says
“Slow foreplay is important every time a man lies with
a woman so that the two spirits will be in harmony.
Only after the spirits are perfectly moved for a long
time should the couple unite. The man should enter the
woman when the penis is soft and pull it back when it
becomes firm and strong. He should penetrate only
without ejaculating. He who can have intercourse
many times in a single day without letting his essence
leak will increase his lifespan and heal himself of all
disease.”
Matching the Various Stages of the Spiritual
Experience among Cultivation Traditions
5 STAGES
TAOISM
SKANDHAS
Stage of Study
and Merit
Accumulation
Jing -> Chi
Form Skandha
Sensation Skandha
Stage of
Intensified
Preparatory
Practices
Jing -> Chi
Chi ->
Shen
Form Skandha
Sensation Skandha
Consciousness
DHYANA
Psychic
“Flow”
Du-yin
Shadow side
of the 6th
Consciousness
First Six
Ching An
consciousness 1st Dhyana
es
2nd Dhyana
3rd Dhyana
4th Dhyana
TANTRA
Body Isolation
Verbal isolation
Mental Isolation
Illusory Body
Stage of Seeing Shen ->
the Tao
Emptiness
(Hinayana
Enlighten.)
Conception
Skandha
Empty the 6th Seeing the Tao
Consciousness
See the Clear
Light
Stage of True
Cultivation
Practice
Volition Skandha
Consciousness
Skandha
Cultivate the
Cultivating the
th
7
Tao
Consciousness
Learner’s Union
Consciousness
Skandha
Transform the
8th Alaya
Consciousness
into the
Tathagata
Storehouse
No More
Learning
Stage of
Perfect
Enlightenment
Return
Emptiness
to the Tao
YOGA
Yama
Niyama
Asana
Pranayama
Pratyahar
Dharani
Dhyana
Samadhi
Vitarka,
vicara, ananda
and asmita
samadhi
Big Cheats
• Visualizations, Affirmations, Positive thinking, Writing
messages given to heaven, Mantra for things
• My teacher: “If I cannot get them, why cheat people?”
• This is all focusing on Wandering Thoughts
• Success stories are the 1% coincidentals (consistent with
karma/astrological periods)
• To be famous today, write a book difficult to understand
(wow you’re intelligent) or really strange, irregular,
imaginary, mystical
Formula:
Time + Patience + Method + Disciplined Practice =
Result (Gong-fu) can change your fortune
www.MeditationExpert.com
BOOKS
Tao and Longevity - Nan Huai-Chin
Twenty-Five Doors to Meditation - William Bodri
WEBSITE
• Free chapter (of case studies) from How to Measure and
Deepen Your Spiritual Realization
• An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Best and Worst Spiritual
Paths and Practices
• How to Measure and Deepen Your Spiritual Realization
• How to Detox Your Body for the Spiritual Trail
Go to www.MeditationExpert.com for free articles and downloads